The Rite

A pretty solid exorcism genre film that fears nothing and dives headfirst into everything. Mikael Håfström is a skilled director who knows what he’s doing, and The Rite succeeded in almost every aspect, in my opinion. The film is greatly enhanced by the locations where it was shot, whether it’s Rome or Budapest, as these places themselves feel quite mysterious and, most importantly, atmospheric. Yes, the atmosphere here is phenomenal, you could almost cut it with a knife. The cast is fairly standard, except for one person. Of course, I’m talking about Hopkins. In the first half, he played a Welsh priest, but what came after the devil entered his body was an unimaginable performance, one you don’t see often. There aren’t many jump scares, but when they do appear, you’d better be on guard, or you might have a heart attack. The story isn’t bad, it has a decent plot, but it’s missing something to reach the very top. You’ll find a few boring parts here and there, but the moments involving exorcism are worth it. You might find better films on this topic, but just for the final exorcism of Hopkins (which is woven with amazing dialogues), you can’t afford to miss this one. I give it 74%. (08/07/2017)

Mikael Håfström should not have bothered with the below-average psychological stuff and should have instead focused on the horror elements that work well in the film. This way, many of the motifs (frogs, hooves) are repeated unnecessarily and lose their effectiveness. Despite the attractiveness of the theme, The Rite remains an average spectacle, saved by the excellent Anthony Hopkins and the terrifying exorcism scenes. (03/12/2011)

Mikael Hafström is a skilled craftsman. With good actors, he always knows how to turn a promising script into a decent thriller (albeit one that doesn’t invite rewatching). However, the script for The Rite, whose blandness would put to sleep even a red-eyed horse high on amphetamines, made that impossible. It seems that the producers bet that casting Anthony Hopkins covered in impressive makeup and energetically flashing all kinds of Hannibal-like grins would elevate this boring affair to a scary thrill ride. That didn’t happen, and the unremarkable Colin O’Donoghue is no help at all. The Rite doesn’t have a single powerful moment and brings absolutely nothing new to the exorcism sub-genre, which began with the brilliant The Exorcist and has recently been interestingly brushed up by The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Even An American Haunting was more interesting thanks to its historical setting and some juicy visual tricks. The Rite is weak, bland and unnecessary. The whole time it seems to be heading toward something bigger, but it never quite gets there. (03/11/2011)

The approach in the opening forty-five minutes is pleasant, but foiled the screenplay which doesn’t manage to get anything extra from it, or anything at all, for that matter. In other words, the change in style from the bracelet scene onward is a release. All of a sudden it’s a sort of “initiation adventure for not-yet-father Lankester Merrin", although not even that can free it of the waters of mediocrity. P.S.: I have probably never seen a dumber and more senseless use of CGI; why not leave it up to the actors? (05/07/2011)

The most average from the averagely average. Mikael Håfström is not a bad director, but this time he got a not very good script. It’s not that it’s stupid, illogical or chaotic, but the story never escalates and doesn’t have any higher ambitions. Anthony Hopkins shines in the climax, but it’s a pity that he is not given more space than the bland apprentice (meaning the “likeable” hero we are supposed to root for). Otherwise, a couple of the jump-scares did scare me, the images of Rome were nice, so, considering that I had free time at the cinema, I don’t regret going :-D If you are not too anti-Catholic, The Rite won’t offend you. A more important question, however, is who it is trying to appeal to. Nobody, I’m afraid. (03/18/2011)